Grand Canyon from Vegas: helicopter or bus?

[familycruiser]

We will be going in July for only 3 days to Vegas. Would like to see Grand Canyon. Have to see if helicopter is in my budget. Has anyone had experiences with a helicopter or bus tour they can share?

What are they more reputable tour companies and the typical costs. Was it worth it? I know July will be HOT! and so I don't want to spend a lot of time outdoors or hiking, etc.

 

[gshumaker]

We drove it - what a wonderful trip - it made for a long day but well worth it!!

 

[Barbday62]

I have seen the Canyon by air and by Car and you do lose a lot by Air. Its beautiful but a lot of money to spend unless the helecopter lands and lets you see land portions too. (Not even sure they can do that)

I guess Hot is how you define it. I live in Arizona (Phx area) and its over 110 a lot for us. We escape the heat by going North. Its typically way cooler up there like 80 - 85 degrees. when we are uber hot. The thing in Arizona is the dry heat. 80 degrees in a humid place is awful!! 80 degrees here is beautiful. The North Rim is cooler than the South rim too. (We always go to the South Rim)


At the South Rim you park your car and catch the free shuttles to the look out points. You wont do much hiking unless you want to. Each stop is litterly feet from the look outs. Then when you are done you go back to the stop to wait on the next shuttle to come. They come often so its not a huge wait.

 

[cherylgyak]

How much time do you want to spend vs. cost? With only a three day visit, spending thirteen hours on a bus tour ($86) takes up 1/3 of your total trip. A helicopter tour would take an average of three hours and runs about $300; some do land at the Colorado River at Hualapai

 

[familycruiser]

Thanks for the input. Anyone know any good tour operators?

 

[Danauk]

http://www.helicoptour.com/

We have used Sundance in the past and had a great experience with them. So much so we have booked a longer tour with them when we return to Las Vegas in August. We did the Grand Canyon picnic last time, this time we are doing the Grand Voyager with the skywalk.

 

[DOOM1001]

I've done the bus tour and it takes up the entire day,the bus picks you up at the hotel at 7am or so and takes you to a warehouse/vitamin factory where you pay and are given a couple of pastries and juice for breakfast,by 9-10 am you leave and the trip takes around 5 hours.We stopped at a gift shop before going into the canyon to buy souvenirs and to eat our box lunch that's included in the price(basically a sandwich,chips,cookies and water).By the time you get inside it's close to 3pm,the bus stops at 2 locations in the south rim,we spent probably a total of 2 1/2 hours total at the canyon and drove back watching a movie arriving back in Vegas near 10pm.A lot of driving for the time you spend there but definitely worth it.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

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